ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Fabrication of ZIF-8/polyethersulfone (PES) mixed matrix hollow fiber membranes for O₂/N₂ separation

Alireza Hadi, Javad Karimi-Sabet, Sepehr Nikkho, and Abolfazl Dastbaz

Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

E-mail: j_karimi@alum.sharif.edu

Received: 3 November 2020  Accepted: 5 April 2021

Abstract:

This study deals with the fabrication of hollow fiber mixed matrix membrane, and evaluation its performance toward O₂/N₂ gas separation. Asymmetric mixed matrix PES membranes with embedded ZIF-8 nanoparticles as the dispersed phase were prepared by dry–wet-spinning method. The morphological, thermal, and chemical properties of spun fibers were characterized by FESEM, EDS mapping, TGA, and FTIR analysis. Effect of spinning parameters and dope composition including bore fluid/ dope flow rate ratio (0.5, 1, 2), bore fluid composition (Water/NMP: 100:0, 50:50, 75:25), polymer concentration (20%, 25%, 30%), and ZIF-8 concentration (0–40%wt at seven stages) were investigated on the morphology of hollow fiber MMMs. In addition, pure O₂ and N₂ gas permeation through the fibers was tested in order to figure out the effect of different ZIF-8 content embedded in hollow fiber MMMs on the ideal selectivity of O₂/N₂ separation. Results revealed that the maximum separation performance (ideal selectivity of 5.25) was attained at the ZIF-8 weight content of 10%. The improved performance of hollow fiber MMMs over O₂/N₂ gas separation could be related to increment in both sieving and solubility selectivity.

Keywords: Mixed matrix membrane; Hollow fiber membrane; ZIF-8; O2/N2 separation

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-021-01642-7

Chemical Papers 75 (8) 4129–4145 (2021)